Giving- What does it really cost?

So daily I am reminded that we are finite people, with finite resources, and yet we have an infinite imagination of what to do with those people and resources.  We live in a culture and a day in age that wastes more than any other point in history.  What we waste in resources, time, energy and lack of effort in one day, people 100 years ago would have given a lifetime to dream of achieving.






Earliest humans only lived to see about 20-30 years old, if they were lucky.  Even less than 100 years ago, the life time expectation was only around 50 years old.  Now we have people who regularly are make it not only to 100 but beyond by several years.  Maybe its is luck that they make it so far but the average lifetime is now around 80 years old.  We have made huge leaps and bounds in the ways of innovation in medicine, nutrition, and knowledge of how to best take care of ourselves.






With all this extra time and such strides in innovation, how do we use it?  Do we enrich the lives of those around us, up lifting those who have fallen on hard times, or do we squander and waste all that potential in foolish attempts to gain more and more until we have everything, and yet nothing at all? Our goal in life should be like that of Norman Borlaug, who saved our a billion lives, and was hard at work trying to improve others when he found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize.  Instead, some act like Thomas Midgley Jr., who was the single greatest threat to the environment then any other organism in the history of the world.


When we give of our resources, they can be replaced.  When we give of our time, we give something that we can't get back.  When the time has come and gone, it is no more.  So we should use it wisely, better, and for the betterment of others.  Coach a youth team, join a fundraiser, sing carols to those who could use an uplifting song, take a weekend and help build a house, cook a meal for parents who have spent all their energy worrying about a sick child, read a book to children, DO SOMETHING!!


We complain about the world around us, when we can fix it by simply giving. Giving of our time, giving of our resources, being grateful for the blessings we have and bestowing blessings on those without.

Lost Truths: Understanding the basics of our country

Lost Truths: Understanding the basics of our country: Ok, First off let me say that I didn't vote for Donald Trump nor am I a fan of his work, whether before or now.  However, wanting him to...

Understanding the basics of our country

Ok, First off let me say that I didn't vote for Donald Trump nor am I a fan of his work, whether before or now.  However, wanting him to fail is bad for EVERYONE in our country and the world in general.  Its like, wanting the pilot to fail at flying the plane you are a passenger on, while its still in midair.  It makes no sense to want that to happen.


However, if you are opposed to President Trump's policies and want to see change happen then you have at your disposal the most powerful of weapons that you won't have to wait 4 years to use again.  In less than 2 years, YOU, yes you, can vote to elect different representatives and some senators to change the balance of Congress, who, by the way, control the budget and make the laws, that govern our country.  That is how you change things for the better.  Vote for congressmen that share you beliefs, desires and hopes for our nation.  Vote for better statesmen at all levels of our representative democracy, and let them know that you want some different than the status quo.  If they fail at their jobs, then vote for someone else to do the job.  Our vote is the most powerful weapon we have to use in this government.  The President is not the All powerful person he has been made out to seem.  He has limits but we need a Congress that will stand up to anything that will work our nation.  This works on state and local levels, as well.


We have become a nation of whiners, complainers, and apathetically lazy.  When we don't get our way, we need counseling, we riot, we threaten others, or just quit caring.  Thank God that Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., the Founding Fathers, Abraham Lincoln, Jackie Robinson, or anyone who has ever advance a cause in life.  They did it by not blaming others, not allowing setbacks to stop them, not whining or rioting, not quitting, and not by threatening.  They lead the way with grace, honor, dignity, even while others went out of their way to stop or prevent it from happening.


Lincoln knew that if he was elected President, that the country would go into a civil war.  He also knew that he was right for running, right for winning the election, and right for bringing about change to the way life was in our country.  His debates with Stephen Douglas are some of the most inspired debates to ever have happened.  They helped Lincoln get his message out to the masses and drew large crowds from neighboring states.  They were true debates about the issues of the day, and while Lincoln lost that elect for US Senator, it helped prepare him for the Presidential election.


So, if you are unhappy with the direction of the country, join people who feel the same way and do something about it.  Write a letter, visit your elected officals, run for office.  Don't whine and complain, DO SOMETHING TO MAKE THE CHANGE.